The charge by the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to journalists to showcase their best in election coverage to enhance the image of the country and the appeal to the Ghanaian electorate to turn out massively on December 7 to elect the country’s leaders are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Graphic reports that the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr. Affail Monney, has charged the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) and its brands to showcase their best in election coverage as they always do to enhance the image of the country.
He said the Daily Graphic, which symbolises distinctive quality, would be carefully watched by the international community for all the happenings in the country during the December 7 polls.
Mr. Monney said this when he and other members of the National Media Commission (NMC) called on the management of the GCGL in Accra yesterday as part of their visit to key media houses ahead of the December elections.
“The GCGL has the edge to encourage and hold aloft the banner of quality journalism and everybody will once again expect the same quality from it in these elections.
“We even want the group to scale up its performance to enhance the image of journalism in the country,” he added.
Mr. Monney further admonished staff of the company to be mindful of their gatekeeping role by ensuring that unverified information did not slip into the papers.
The newspaper says that the Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, has called on the Ghanaian electorate to turn out massively on December 7 to elect the country’s leaders.
“Do not sit on the fence and allow others to elect your President or decide who your representative in Parliament should be,” she said.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Ms. Nkrumah said the NCCE was working hard, through its educational programmes, to make turnout in this year’s elections one of the highest.
Although the commission had been embarking on educational activities on the elections alongside its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) educational programme, she has directed all its offices to intensify educational programmes on the December 7 general election.
Ms. Nkrumah said the presidential election would pose a greater challenge to the electorate as a result of the high number of presidential candidates.
She explained that with 12 candidates on the ballot paper for the presidential election, it was important that every ballot paper remained valid to be counted in order not to trigger a run-off.
The Graphic also reports that the family of the late former President Jerry John Rawlings has welcomed any decision to name the University for Development Studies (UDS) after him.
According to the family, it has never been against such a ‘forward looking’ decision, thus, it welcomed the naming of the institution after him.
“We have quickly checked with her excellency and I have her authority to inform you that the family has never been against this forward-looking suggestion and we would have absolutely no objection if your university can achieve that,” a member of the family and former diplomat, Mr Victor Gbeho, said on Monday when a delegation from the UDS, led by its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Gabriel Ayum Teye, visited the residence of the late Rawlings to commiserate with the family.
Responding, Prof. Teye said the statement of the family had been taken note of and that the university had taken an earlier decision in 2018 to do the honours but something happened and it was put on hold.
“So if it is coming up at this time, we have already given our blessing and also to say that the $50,000 that was donated (by Rawlings) … was meant to develop the university library and because of that the main library is now named after the former president and if you go there you would see a statute of him in front of the library,” he said.
The Times says that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has requested for exhibits from the Electoral Commission (EC),to assist in investigations into alleged forged documents case against five disqualified presidential aspirants.
This follows official petition from EC to the CID to investigate alleged forgery against Mr. KofiKoranteng and Marrice Kofi Gane, both independent candidates, AkwasiAddaeOdike of United Progress Party (UPP), Kwasi Busumbru of People’s Action Party (PAP) and Nana Agyenim Boateng of United Front Party (UFP).
The Director of the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit of the CID, Chief Superintendent Alex Buabin, confirmed the request by the Unit to the EC, in Accra yesterday.
He said officials of the EC have assured to furnish the police with the requisite documents to facilitate the alleged fraud case.
GIK/APA